Disney Wine & Food Festival and Shrimp Lollipops!

We had a date with Disney last Friday evening to attend a special preview event of Disney California’s 3rd annual Food & Wine Festival. Armed with our camera, a big appetite and eyes for some delicious vino, we sampled an amazing spread of California inspired cuisine and wine pairings. Prepared by some of the resorts top Chefs, the fabulous “Taste Of California Marketplace” themed dishes we savored were just a sampling of what was to come for the “Eat and Drink” festivities which are to be held on April 11-May 5, 2008. The festival events, which include wine classes led by Master Sommelier Michael Jordan of Napa Rose, cooking demonstrations and fine meals prepared by the fine Disney chefs such as Andrew Sutton, executive chef of the celebrated restaurant, Napa Rose,as well as guest chefs, including Nancy Silverton, formerly of LaBrea bakery and Campanille fame.

Introducing Michael Jordan…(left) not the super athlete who has etched the #23 into the minds of basketball fans worldwide, but the Master Sommelier who can blind taste test a glass of wine and describe the grape variety, country, appellation and vintage of the wine. To top it off, this Michael Jordan grows over 150 varieties of heirloom tomatoes!! And he’s gonna pass on a special purple Japanese heirloom tomato plant over to us! Hero!

One of the highlights of the evening was attending a special, super-energetic and informative 45 minute wine lesson by Michael Jordan himself. His entertaining style of teaching helped breeze through some basics of tasting and identifying wine and made wine more approachable and less pretentious. This “teaser” class left us thinking about wine so much that we might even consider taking the 1st level sommelier class! Can you imagine taking a final exam where you had to drink wine? Hell, yeah!

For dessert, Berry Trifle served in a martini glass and Chocolate Marquise. Paried with a refreshing Sparkling ROSÉ….ummm….we forgot which one. But it tasted exquisite, even though at this point, we were pretty much in a food and wine coma!

Now, our contribution…Don’t laugh at us….

Everything was outstanding, but the special Lobster Lollipops with the Panko bread crumbs left feeling like giggly little kids, aching for more. So we decided to try to duplicate this idea of a “seafood on a stick”. Lobster does not fit into our budget this month so we used shrimp for this fun dish. The Japanese Panko bread crumbs gives fried foods and awesome, crispy, crumbly texture. There’s always at least a bag of panko in our pantry as back up because when we need a last minute dish, anything with panko is always a hit! Give panko a try, you’ll love it!

Panko Crusted Shrimp Lollipops

with Ginger Soy Caramel Dip

This dish is so versatile, you can use it with just about anything. We also made this panko dish with chicken and squash, for a vegetarian option. Japanese Panko bread crumbs gives fried foods and awesome, crispy, crumbly texture. There’s always at least a bag of panko in our pantry as back up because when we need a last minute dish, anything with panko is always a hit! Give panko a try, you’ll love it! The marinade for the soon-to-be-fried-goodies is optional. If you are serving them with the Ginger Soy Caramel Sauce, we recommend not to marinate the shrimp or squash, so that there is more contrasting flavors between the shrimp and the sauce. The chicken still benefits from the marinade, but if you choose to skip this step, brine the chicken for about 30 minutes instead. The end result will be a juicier meat.

3. Heat about 3/4″ of oil in pan to about 350ºF for frying. Fry shrimp, chicken or zucchini until cooked and golden brown on each side. These ingredients cook very quickly (especially the shrimp), so be ready to flip them, then pull them out of the oil after a minute of so of frying on each side.

1. Place the sugar and 1 t (5ml) of lime juice in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a sturdy wooden spoon, until the sugar has liquefied (be diligent in your stirring, or else the sugar will heat unevenly, leaving clumps that are a pain to dissolve without burning the caramel). Continue to cook until the caramel has reached a golden brown color (the caramel may still appear opaque, that’s ok). Be very careful. You have napalm in a pan right now.

2. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in water. Stand back a bit as you pour, because the caramel is going to bubble, hiss, & splatter a bit.

3. Return the caramel back to the heat and stir to dissolve any remaining lumps.

4. Let the sauce cool a bit, then add the soy sauce, remaining 1 t (5ml) of lime juice, grated ginger, chili garlic sauce, and grated lime zest. Carefully taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. After sauce has cooled completely, thin with additional water if necessary. You have to wait until it has cooled completely because the thickness will vary depending on how much you caramelized the sugar.

Disney’s “Taste of California” Wine & Food Festival

Usually when we think of Disney, we think of Micky Mouse and the happiest place on earth for kids. But inside the fortress walls of Disney’s California Adventure lies some very fine and sophisticated restaurants. For this festival, Disney has unleashed it’s chefs and given them the spotlight to share their culinary passions and skills. One experience of this event and you’ll be saying, “Screw the kids, Mom and Dad are going to Disneyland!”

I am SO sorry, I have recently discovered your blog. There are so man out there and not all are worth it. You blog most definitely is. I love love love this recipe. I always have panko in the cupboard. Whether for Asian inspired dishes or a simple crusted chicken breast with some yummy creamy dressing. This recipe almost made me cry with it’s total an utter beauty. Thank you. I love “good” fried foods, not any old rubbish. This is more than good. Lovely.

Hey! I’m on the prowl for some good party recipes and was wondering if you could send me the recipe for the shrimp lollipops? They look cute and yummy! The link here goes to a different post about pho. thanks so much!

Sorry about that. We are in the middle of site renovations right now, and the recipes archive is down. After we get it back up we can pass it on. Thanks for the interest. -WORC

Wow guys, your Disney food and wine experience sounds spectacular. And as for your own shrimp lollipop recipe – this looks and sounds great! When I read the words “ginger caramel dipping sauce” – I was in.

I looove to go to this kind of event. It’s so much fun and i’m soo jealous right now. The wine guy/basketball star looks like he’s the real deal! Become close friend with him, that’s an order! haha
And i love the lollipops, just the name is fun! Great stuff. You just put me in a giddy mood. haha.

Oh my, what a delicious event! The lobster lollipops have me drooling, and your shrimp lollys look fab too. I once had salmon lollipops at a dinner party that were disgusting so I’m happy to see that there are others that are edible!

Oh my, what a fabulous time you must have had! I wish my husband and I could have joined you–we love those types of events, but alas, there’s no Disney in Kansas City!! We do have the 12th annual Forks and Corks event coming up (which is similar but not quite as fancy,) and the proceeds go to Harvesters Community Food Network–which helps provide meals to those in need throughout the community. Knowing the funds go to charity makes it doubly enjoyable!

You lucky, lucky things. It sounds like a wonderful day out. An yum on the shrimp pops. Panko is a wonderous thing and that my well-horded bag in my cupboard really needs to bust out of its plastic confines and be put to good use.

too funny~ I also copied “Wild Mushroom Risotto with Blood Orange Gastrique” bwahahaha. Great minds and all that. I can’t wait to see the purple tomatoes cause I know you’ll share. Thanks SO much for sharing the menu. Sounds like it was an amazing time!

Oooh, that looks so good! I have never actually tried anything with panko crumbs, but I want to. Just like LPC said, I can’t get a link from your recipe tag I want to know how to make my own shrimp lollies, guys!